council tax, bailiff and levy

pingupenguin

Hi everyone

i had an issue a few months before Christmas and fell into arrears with my council tax, it was sent to a bailiff (rossendales). the bailiff visited my home and made a walking possession. I now know i should have never let him in as it would have saved me alot of hassle. the bailiff has now claimed we have broken the agreement with continuous late payments, which is untrue other then one week in which we contacted their head office and made a double payment the next week which they agreed to. im not contesting the debt but the bailiff has slapped alot of charges onto the previous debt and more worryingly being very aggressive and claiming to "clear out our house" and "break our locks even if we are agreeing to let him into the premises" i have now found he cant just take anything, only what is on the "list". we have informed the police who were very helpful and directed us to the debt helpline. they have informed me of many of the legal matters and costs he is able to make but the situation gets a bit grey due to the fact we have signed a walking possession can anyone please give me some advice on what to do? im happy to pay the original debt but the other costs seem excessive and the company is very unresponsive.

sorry its a long post but any advice will be greatly appreciated

isplumm

post this in the debt section of the forums try http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=12

Mark

Butlers1982

im happy to pay the original debt but the other costs seem excessive and the company is very unresponsive.

So you expect them to do work for free? the whole point of keeping update with council tax is to stop recovery. IF recovery was made with no additional costs, it would hardly be a deterrent

pinkshoes

When prioritising bills, council tax and rent should always come first.

Personally I would sell what you can to pay off the debt asap, and if you know you're going to default again, let them know in advance and come to some agreement.

CH0C0H0LIC

All i can suggest is that you ring Rossendales and try to negotiate repayment terms. They can and do apply fees, it covers admin and bailiff costs/wages as far as i know. Get a payment schedule arranged and make sure it's one you can stick to. Rossendales are not the easiest bailiffs to work with (I have an agreement with them) but it's the way bailiffs work in general. Believe me Rossendales aren't the worst!
As for the agressiveness although it's wrong, it should stop once a payment plan is in force and you are not defaulting on it.
Good luck x

pingupenguin

hi

im sorry i posted the thread in the wrong place im kinda new to this

thanks to the advice you have given me (mainly to the person who actually did on the issue).

rossendales were not interested in anything i had to say though some of their activities were illegal but the council did, they have TOLD rossendales to carry on with the previous agreement which the council agreed i had not breached. the bailiff is now not coming to take my stuff and i can pay of the money i can afford. id like to also point out the original reason the council refereed to a bailiff was for a debt of around £20 which we were not given a reasonable chance to pay. thank you again and im sorry i didn't use the forum correctly

CIS

I'm surpried Rossendales are being awkward, I deal with them on a daily basis (I work in council tax recovey) and we normally never hear any problems from customers regarding them. Other bailiff company are much more difficult to work with.

pingupenguin

when i visited the council today the lady spoke to a man on the phone who was able to view my record with rossendales, it stated i had made one late payment of which i had previously informed rossendales of, not the 9 or 10 so the company bailiff had said id made. there are similar stories i have recently read after getting into this situation, some even on this site. this company cheats and deceives going against the certificate given to the bailiff by a council magistrate to be "a good honest person". i never disputed owing the money yet they took every chance to run me into the ground and as you can imagine i don't actually have that that much money

RobertoMoir

CIS wrote: »

I'm surpried Rossendales are being awkward, I deal with them on a daily basis (I work in council tax recovey) and we normally never hear any problems from customers regarding them.

I'm not that surprised. A quick skim of some of the posts I've helped out with on these forums reveals some pretty shoddy actions on the part of some of their bailiffs.

CIS wrote: »

Other bailiff company are much more difficult to work with.

That may be true but that's like being asked to choose which one of your fingers you'd like the loan shark to break.

Even if you know that one finger will hurt less or heal faster than another finger the real answer is "actually can you not break any fingers at all, and by the way roberto have I ever told you that some of your analogies are quite disturbing?".

The_Bailiff

Hello,

Just a few things;

Bailiffs can remove goods not listed on the walking possession, if the previous goods were nor available, they could levy and remove other goods to replace them.

I have been a Bailiff for 16 years and am happy to answer any quetions

x__Indigo_x

In all circumstances like this i would advise people to contact the Citizens advice or debtline as i work within this sector and see handfuls of clients every DAY who have been fed lies by certain bailiffs ie what they can take, the best one is ' we will get the police to break down your door' hahahaha

what the bailiff can do all depends on who/what the bailiff is acting for...ie council tax or mags bailiffs

so like i said if you do find yourself in this situation seek advice promptly